Mapping machine



March 7, 1939.

J. E. JACKSON 2,149,440

MAPPING MACHINE Filed Oct. 5, 1 935 6 Sheets-Sheet l Jr WW John EarZy r/Zzc/fson,

Gum/M1,

March 7, 1939.

J. E. JACKSON MAPPING MACHINE Filed Oct. 3, 1955 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 3 W Z m w H n J 4% March 7, 1939. J. E. JACKSON MAPPING MACHINE 1955 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct.

Gum/W24 l gvwc'wfm Jolm Early lfaclson,

March 7, 1939. J. E. JACKSON 2,149,440

MAPPING MACHINE Filed Oct. 5, 1955 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 3 rwcm tom m FarZy Jackson March 7, 1939. E JAG-(80g, 2,149,440

MAPPING MACHINE 7 Filed 001;. 3, 1935 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 l n I 2 Z f1 1 glwuv wtov Jobn Early izcll'son,

March 7, 1939.

Filed Oct. 5, 1955 c r c u u D c u u E n c n c U Cl =1 U INVENTOR 5); i'arqy Jackson, a,

6 Sheets-Sheet 6 after/mm Patented Mar. 7, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a mapping machine and specifically relates to a machine for recording the direction (horizontal deviations) of a road and its profile or contour (vertical deviations) while a vehicle in which the machine is mounted is traversed over said road.

- The various objects and features will be clearly understood from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view showing the entire apparatus,

Fig. 2 is a side view of the map making machine, Fig. 3 is a plan view of the machine of F18. 2,

Fig. 4 is a front view of the mechanism for the automatic guiding of the map paper,

Fig. 5 is a front detail view of the ink wheel and upper guide wheel supports, Fig. 6 is a side view of the detail of Fig. 5,

mFig. '1 is a front detail view of the sphere mount- 8, I Fig. 8 is a plan view of the detail of Fig. 7, Fig. 9 is a side view of the detail of Fig. .l,

5 -Fig. 10 is a side view of the profile device of the mapping machine.

Fig. 11 is a plan view of the profile device of Fig. 10, Fig. 12 is a top view with a schematic wiring 3o diagram showing an automatic orientation mech- Fig. 13 is a cross-sectional view pfa suitable compass, and 1 Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic view of the sphere as and wheels.

Referring to Fig. 1 the apparatus is adapted to be mounted on a truck. trailer or other vehicle so that the road wheel i will contact and run on the road 'I' which is to be mapped. The wheel is 40 rotatabiy mounted on any support or arm 2 secured to the vehicle 3. A flexible shaft 4' conveys the rotary motion, of the 'wheel to a sphere I which is mounted on a trunnion t counterbalancedatlsothatthespherelmayswinaaround a horizontal axis in a direction in the longitudinal axis of the vehicle or the direction of the road to be mapped. A pair of friction wheels 8 and 0 contact with the sphere l. The wheel 8 wheel 0 is mounted on a vertical axis ii. The axle it rotates through gears i2, shaft ll, gears It and the shaft-ll on which is moimted'the main drive wheel II for the map paper II. Above u the paper I1 18. the inking device ll. Shaft ll also rotates a toothed wheel IQ for the sheet or strip of profile or contour paper 20.

The shaft H through gears 2|, shaft 22, gears 23, shaft 24 andgears 25, operates the screwthreaded shaft 26 on which is mounted the profile pen 21.

Further additional mechanical details are included than have been referred to in the foregoing and which are shown in Fig. 1, but such further elements are illustrated in the detailed 10 views which will now be referred to.

In Fig. 2, the sphere 5 is rotatably mounted in bearings 28 mounted on a frame 29. This frame 29 has two bearings 30 and the counterweight 1 is suspended by the fork 3i from below the 15 bearings 30 so that the sphere and frame 29 together with the fork 3i and weight I will pendulously swing about the bearings 30 in a direction parallel with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle.

The bearings 30 are suitably mounted ina frame go 32 mounted on the vehicle.

The drive shaft I 5 leads into the automatic guiding mechanism for the map paper which is shown in detail in Fig. 4. In this figure, the mechanism is suspended from the table 33 by 55 means of hanging supports 34 which act as bearings for the various shafts. Shaft it drives the main drive wheel It for the paper sheet 11. A second wheel which is a guide wheel 35 is driven by shaft I! through gears 36, shaft 31, gears 38, so shaft 39, differential gear and shaft 4| on which the wheel 35 is mounted. The differential gear '40 is for the purpose of revolving guide wheel 35 either faster or slower than wheel It in order to' orient the map paper l1.- ll is the 35 inking wheel and 42 is the idler wheel for the map paper l1. On the differential housing 40', a I worm gear 43 is secured thereto meshing with worm M which latter is rotated by a shaft 4!, suitable bevel gears or flexible shaft, rod 46 and 40 crank handle 41 on the top of the table as shown in P18. 3.

As seen in Figs. 2 and 3, the table top 33 may be provided with'a front plate glass 48 provided over the table and raised approximately one-fourth of .45 an inch above the table, and a rear board 4! approximately three inches above the table for mounting and supporting thereon the compass II 1 andthemirroril. AsseeninFi.3,th i 50 is mounted on a horizontal axle ll whereas the g ere space between the plate glass 48 and the board 49 5 through which the inking wheel II and the idler wheel? project. The shaft I. may also 'be" mounted over and on top of the board ll by bearings I2, or brought to any other position convenient to the. operator. 5

(ill

[the sphere and friction -P rides on an axis of The inking device is shown in Figs. 5 and 6 wherein tubes 53 are secured in the board 49. One tube carries the inking device l8 and this comprises an inking roller 54 which is adjustably spring pressed on the paper I! by means of spring 55 in tube 53 and adjustable screw 56. The other roller is the upper guide wheel 51 similarly mounted in its tube 53. The tube with the inking roller has a fixed reference pointer 58 secured in the end of its tube 53 for conveniently marking the starting and stopping points on the paper II. The spaced distance between the inking roller 54 and the upper guidewheel 51 maybe adjusted by means of a rod mounted in brackets 60, one on each tube 53 and held in adjusted position by lock nuts 6|, through rod 59 which tends to maintain the roller 54 and wheel 51 in rigid positions relative to lateral movements. This is particularly important for automatic operation by means of a repeater compass.

As seen in Fig. 6, a capillary tube 62 is filled with ink and is provided with a. nozzle 53 adjacent to and in contact with the periphery of the inking roller 54. However, any suitable inking device may be used such as a pad saturated with ink which is suitably mounted and contacts with the wheel 54.

Figs. 10 and 11 show the profile or contour recording device in which the paper'is rolled from spool 64 to spool 67. Spool 61 is driven by a spring belt 65 from the pulley 66 driven bythe shaft I5 and winds up the paper. The toothed wheel I9 is also mounted on shaft l5 and drives the profile paper. I

Fig. 14 shows the operation and accuracy of wheels in which as indicated on the other figures of the drawings 5 is the sphere rotating about axis S, 8 is the horizontal friction wheel, and 9 is the vertical or profile friction wheel.

Assume friction wheels and sphere of equal diameters: then, if .road is level the ratio of drive between sphere and horizontal friction wheel is 1:1, as-this wheel H, rides on a diameter XY, of sphere. The profile frichon wheel rotation of the sphere and therefore does not turn at all.

If the machine goes up some grade, a, the spheres axis of rotation remains level due to its'counterweight, while the friction wheels are moved about the sphere through the angle, a, to the new positions H1 and P1.

Wheel H now rides on a circle on the sphere whose diameter is MNand therefore turns proportionally less than when on a great circle.

Wheel'P rides on the circle whose diameter is BC and begins to turn in proportion to the length of BC.

Now from the figure it is evident that triangles MNO and ABC are identical and that MN equals OM cos a, while BC equals AC sine a.

The two wheels are, therefore, turned proportionally to the road distance times the cosine and sine respectively of the angles of ascent, a,

and will record the true horizontal and vertical distances which are the required map and profile distance, respectively.

The shaft may be operated by a compass repeater to orient the paper automatically and thus eliminate the manual control. In this case, it will be necessary to use suitably designed gears .or other means to eliminate any back lash in the orienting mechanism. An automatic operator is shown in Fig. 12 in which a worm gear 90 is mounted to rotate with mapping machine.

the shaft 46. A gear 9|, having as many teeth as gear 43, has the compass and repeater mounted thereon and the arrow 92 is the equivalent in operation to the needle of Fig. 2. A pair. of contacts 93 are mounted on the gear which are closely spaced apart and a circuit leads to a motor 95 (through suitable relays) to orient the paper so that the lines 80 on the paper II, Fig. 2 will always coincide with the compass direction.

The operation of the entire apparatus is as follows. v r

The vehicle 3 in which the apparatus is mounted is started along the road of which it is de-. sired to chart its course and its profile or contour. The road wheel 8 begins to rotate which causes rotation of the sphere 5. Assuming that the vehicle is passing over a level road for the 3, which preferably has parallel ruled lines 80 thereon, is so placed lines are in alignment on the table 33 that the the sheet I! is manually (or automatically, by

a compass repeater) adjusted to align the lines 80 with the compass needle 50', such manual adjustment comprising the turning of the crank 41 to rotate the guide wheel 35. Thus an accurate record is made on sheet I! of the course of a road.

The wheel 8, Fig. 1, also advances the sheet 20 as the vehicle travels over the rod. When starting the recording, the pen 21, Fig. 11, is set on any line of the profile paper 20 and the elevation above sea level may be calculated for that point. As long as the road is level a straight line will be recorded on sheet 20 parallel with the ruled lines thereon, but when reaching a grade or a decline in the road the profile wheel 9 is moved oiT the center of the axis of rotation compared with the parallel lines on the map paper.

A suitable compass is illustrated in Fig. 13 which shows a casing I 00 having a top glass plate I M and a bottom glass plate E02. A transparent card N13 is mounted on the pivot pin I04 on bearing I05, the latter maintained on the pivot pin by retaining pin I06.

, an index line ml and suspended from the card are two substantially parallel needles I08 which are magnetic needles sov arranged that the moments of inertia about all the horizontal axes are equal. The card is also provided with a circular float I09.

I claim as my invention:

1. A paper guiding and driving mechanism for mapping machines comprising a double set of drive wheels and idler wheels between which a sheet of paper is adapted to be gripped on which the directions and curvatures of the highway are to be recorded, means for driving both drive wheels uniformly to advance the paper during the mapping operation, and means for turning one drive wheel non-uniformly with respect to the other for positively orienting the paper without the introduction of sliding friction.

2. A paper guiding and driving mechanism acof the drive wheels and connected with the drive means to permit non-uniform motion of one wheel for guiding the paper.

JOHN EARLY JACKSON. 

